DAY 162

HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Exakta and the Single-Lens Reflex

A WHOLE NEW WAY TO SEE THE BIG PICTURE

In 1912, Johan Steenbergen of the Netherlands founded the company Industrie und Handelsgesellschaft (also known as Ihagee and later, IHG) in Dresden, Germany. In 1933, the company introduced the Exakta, one of the first compact Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras designed to use roll film. In 1936, the company introduced the Kine-Exakta, which was the first SLR that produced a 24x35mm picture using 35mm film. IHG subsequently manufactured a number of other models.

SLRs differed from the standard viewfinder cameras because light from the subject being shot was reflected up into an attached (in some cases removable) eyepiece through which the photographer could see a more accurate image, unlike viewfinder cameras where the photographer viewed the subject through a separate lens. So the real advantage over viewfinder cameras is that the photographer and the camera are actually seeing the same thing, as opposed to the slight variations that occur with the other method. Another benefit of SLR technology is that interchangeable lenses could be employed without dramatically altering what the photographer was seeing as opposed to viewfinder cameras, which basically had the one, fixed lens. IHG products were, however, on the expensive side and, for this reason, used primarily by professionals.

Interestingly, where several other camera manufacturers got into the business as a result of their optical-glass operations, IHG never produced its own lenses, purchasing them instead from the leading companies of the day. The company did produce accessories like flashes and processing equipment, such as enlargers.¹ —DJG